The Nature Table Revisited

Our nature table is pretty full these days, though not at all as I expected it to be.  I don't know why I thought it might look like this.  Or this.  Ours is definitely more reflective if my children's personalities.  The table is scattered with leaves, pinecones, acorns, and cicada shells (with a couple dead cicada among them) from outside.  Intermingling with some berry containers from the farmers market, two 'toad abodes' E made at her sleepover at the zoo, and a random slinky.

While not how I pictured it, the kids have taken ownership and are using it as I had hoped.  As in, "Look at this leaf!  I want to put it on the nature table!"  Located on a radiator cover on our enclosed porch, it also serves as a nice transitional space from outside to in.  "That can't come inside...  but you can put it on the nature table!"

It's all about the process, right?

The Start of a Nature Table

It's been gray here. And rainy. With some spurts of sun. We've turned the heat off. And on again. And off again. And on again...

We've had O's real birthday (he thinks he turned 3 at his birthday party the week before) and Easter. We've had family visiting. I've been sewing. And the house is a mess.


When my parents were here, they brought the kids some really beautiful small glass eggs. I also found some great wooden Haba eggs at a local toy store. Total impulse buy at the counter. The eggs have reinvigorated my latent desire for some sort of nature table in our house.


My kids are always bringing (or trying to bring) thing from outside in. Sticks, stones, flowers, weeds... And I would love to have a designated spot for them, to mix these outside things with seasonal tidbits from inside.


With O still in the stage where nothing stays set up for long, I think it will take some time to figure it out, but I also constantly underestimate my children.


So, yesterday I went to the toy store and purchased some clay (Crayola Model Magic) to try to do this activity with the kids. They had a blast finding sticks and then gathering grass (very strong smelling onion grass, I might add) and mixing them with the clay. So we have some nests for the nature table. With eggs and grass. Now I just need to figure out where the table will be...